Unabashed Sinner
by MorningHell
Summary: What if Marcus hadn't killed Kraven? He would have remained the same pitiful wretch he's always been, of course. But without his now murdered coven and his esteemed place of power, how would he have survived? Assuming he would survive at all, that is...
1. Chapter 1

**Unabashed Sinner**

_Author's Note: Why am I posting this? Just…why? Feel free to hate me, readers of my other unfinished drivel, and you as well, those interested in the idea of this, yet another work in danger of never finishing_.

_Warnings: Homosexual themes, don't like, don't read, don't bitch to me about it. And sticky gory violence. _

* * *

Power, like lust, is just another one of those interminable qualities that will blind a man to both his own fallibility and his most basic sense of reasoning. They are two among many self-inflicted blights upon man—equally upon those who once were. So one can imagine that a lust for power results in repercussions ten times over what merely one or the other alone would bequeath. Such was his dilemma.

"Why should I listen to your lies…?"

Power had seemed so attainable once. It was a simple red fruit dangling in his garden, ripe with blood and ready to snap from its twigs into his opened hand. It had been something he assumed he could have, if he played his cards right. But somewhere along the way he had added his hand wrong.

"…when the journey to the truth…is so much sweeter…"

In the blink of an eye, he was transferring the memories of his existence to the hand that held the royal flush, his life force draining from him over his shoulder and mingling in already gushing wounds. When Marcus pulled back with a look of wild revelation in his sinister eyes, Kraven knew he had better find an ace. His lips were still curled in a snarl from the sting of his pierced shoulders as he spoke. "Please…I can be of use to you."

"You already have." Marcus decreed. He posed, ready to strike.

Kraven hissed in a frightened way and licked his fangs. "Please…my lord." He repeated.

Marcus seemed vastly uninterested, his thoughts already having left Kraven in favor of something far more pressing. He would hear no petty simpering from a creature whose betrayal was inevitable and had proven itself worthless time and time again. He did so hate it when they begged for their lives. He parted his lips to offer a nonchalant farewell, before his eyes suddenly landed on Kraven's submissive position and hesitated. His head was bowed down and his eyes meeting his master, making no attempt to move his limbs where they hung beneath him. If Kraven had any less dignity, he would be exposing his throat and urinating on himself, crawling to his knees to kiss the feet of whomever would spare him. It was sickeningly pathetic. And yet it drew up a fascinated glower across Marcus's face. "…Tell me more, Kraven. What are your uses?"

"Whatever you require." He answered obediently. His lips curled further up and his jaw trembled in an animalistic expression of pain as Marcus drove his talons deeper within the wounds. "I will do as it pleases you."

"Yes, you will." Marcus decided with a blank face. Hideously blue eyes drilled into his victim without forgiveness, though perplexed at the possibility of hearing his case.

"Please." Kraven said again. "I can find the hybrid."

"And with your blood, so can I." As Marcus watched him, his skin began to change, growing paler and more familiar. In a matter of moments, Marcus had readopted his old human visage, save for the stalks of his wings protruding to pin Kraven above him. "That isn't good enough."

"I…I can offer you aid. Meaning no disrespect, my lord, but there are two of them. The hybrid alone is powerful, and Selene..." Kraven attempted.

There was a ghost of a smirk in Marcus's eyes, though his lips remained flat against one another. "You couldn't even shoot me, Kraven. I place little faith in your skill as a fighter."

Kraven gnarled a bit more and thought quickly. He was running out of escape routes. "Please." He said yet again.

Marcus sneered in revulsion and shook his head before clucking his tongue once. "I never did understand why Viktor let you live. You make a very poor case for yourself. …But…" he enunciated the word sharply and let it linger with venom in Kraven's hopeful ears. "…You're a body nonetheless."

Kraven was motionless with confusion, still offering himself limply to show that he had no intention of struggle. Marcus ripped the blades of his wings out of Kraven's shoulders and allowed him to slide down the wall until he caught himself with bent knees. "Yes…" Kraven agreed, though he was clueless as to Marcus's implication.

"One that can be used despite its lack of spine…So many years in stasis can give one's body aches, Kraven. Nearly insatiable aches." He gripped the younger vampire by an already mutilated shoulder and threw him to his knees. "Do you understand my meaning?"

Kraven's eyes turned a hostile blue, but he remained crumpled down from where he sat staring up. "What?"

He was struck hard against the face. Another wound opened from his lip and spilled over.

"You truly are stupid."

Kraven held a hand to his bleeding lip for a moment before returning his gaze to Marcus dutifully. "I will do anything."

Marcus carelessly raised a hand to cuff him again, but stopped when he sensed not so much as a flinch. Kraven certainly was dedicated to self-preservation…This nauseated him almost as much as it interested him. "Have you lain with a man before, Kraven?"

The question was so scathingly embarrassing and seemingly impertinent that all Kraven could do was stare with glass eyes, utterly at a loss.

"Show me that mouth of yours is good for more than filth and lies." Marcus ordered with no small amount of smugness or amusement. This was backed by a contrasting indifference, however. Kraven had one chance, and Marcus didn't care either way as to which decision he would make—that was painfully clear.

But a sexual favor? That was what Marcus desired?

…Kraven blinked and swallowed as he attempted to pull himself more upright with injured arms. Anything was better than death.

It was over quickly, and Kraven fell back, spluttering a few times on hands and knees before a thick, blood-based gather of vomit and semen wrenched from his stomach onto the floor. The vile taste of Marcus's seed seemed irremovable from his pallet, as it had refused to remain within his body despite the previous insistence to swallow. With a pronounced cough, the remaining drizzles of blood splattered against his face.

"Your work has always been…sloppy, Kraven." Marcus commented from above as he watched him, his breath elevated. He was carelessly fixing his pants back into order, erasing the evidence that tied him to the incident. "Once again, you've managed to make a mess of things."

Kraven lowered his head stiffly between his shoulders as he panted, licking at his lips and wiping his chin with a sleeve. There was still no promise that Marcus wouldn't kill him. That entire performance could have just been to ensure that Kraven's last act in this world was depraved and humiliating. But he was willing to take the chance. He wanted to live, no matter the cost. He froze as Marcus's boots suddenly appeared before his vision, and he stared at them for a long while in silence.

"I'm surprised, Kraven. Surprised that you haven't done that before. I had always just assumed that was part of the reason Viktor kept you around. What other purpose could you possibly serve?"

Kraven found the courage to raise his eyes, blinking heavily as though trying to decipher how many of Marcus he was looking at. He was dying from blood loss, which clouded his judgment a tad. "What will you do with me?"

Marcus said nothing for a moment as he reached down and gripped Kraven's chin, turning his head about as though he were studying an animal. "After watching you prance about with your nose in the air for so long, I enjoy the idea of your degradation. Far too much to allow that pleasantry to go to waste. I suppose this makes you very lucky. …Get up. If you can do that, you live another day."

Kraven's damaged arms were turning numb at rapid pace. His head was spinning terribly in unison, making it nearly impossible to find stability enough for such adventures as standing. But while he may die trying, he was sure to die not, so ignoring the spikes of agony, he pulled himself back to his knees and dragged one leg up jerkily so that the foot of it rested flatly upon the stone. Heaving himself to his feet was more arduous than he could ever remember it having been. He forced himself to bear the pain and the vertigo and, miraculously, found himself standing mostly straight before his master, having no idea how long it had taken to arrive there.

"If this were anyone but you, I wouldn't be impressed." Marcus imparted, stepping back.

Kraven watched with fading eyes as Marcus stepped over the body of one of his fallen allies. He had almost forgotten about them. But they were dead, and no longer mattered; why should he remember them?

"Come over here." Marcus demanded.

Kraven's steps were unsure and wobbly, drawn towards the call that beckoned him. He felt like a child taking its first steps, though they felt much closer to being his last. It only took one unbalanced moment to send him clattering back to the floor with a fruitless clunk.

"You're going to have to do better than that for your life. I don't have an abundance of time."

The words came across as fuzzy to Kraven as he rose up heavily and began again, desperate to prove his willingness to survive. He stumbled pitiably to the body lying between them and dropped down to his knees, ready to pass out but fighting like mad against the death that action would promise. As his head fell back between his shoulders, unable to be supported any longer by the scant reserves of his strength, his eyes fell onto the prostrate figure with mild wonder. This particular one of his brethren was still breathing.

"Kill him, Kraven." Marcus ordered, as though sensing his realization at the precise moment of its birth.

Kraven slowly looked up. Kill one of his own? Who had been aiding him only moments before? Not that he was above this sort of thing, but he needed a reason.

"I doubt you could make it to any other source of sustenance, and I know how atrociously selfish you are. Surely you value your own life above the brothers that were loyal enough to you to offer theirs. That is a loyalty you have never known. So either drink his blood, or die."

Kraven nodded, or rather half nodded, as his energy would allow. His attention went once more to his fellowman below him. It was either him or Kraven, and it was not going to be Kraven. He pitched forward and pricked his fangs into the immobilized vampire's broken neck, ignoring the way it jerked in the process and the muffled wail of pain and betrayal that followed as life slipped away, stolen. Kraven shuddered in relief as hot streams of blood skirted down his throat. The pain receded. The sense of sickness for having put his mouth on Marcus lessened. His own bleeding trickled to a halt. Life swelled up anew in his chest and returned his heart rate to normal, assuring him once and for all that at least in this moment, in this day, he would live. Once again his efforts had been rewarded, and he would live. A foot colliding into his ribs brought him out of his feeding, sending him rolling with a cough.

"Then get up and come along." Marcus said simply as he turned to leave, with no intention of waiting for his newfound servant.

Kraven pushed with his upper arms and blinked in shock, dazedly shaking away the black locks stuck in his face as he watched Marcus make his exit. In the next moment, he was scrambling up after him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Unabashed Sinner**

_Author's Note: No reviews! Aw, no one likes Kraven? Wait…no one DOES like Kraven. Ne'rmind. I see I have some hits though (of course they may just be from those who click, see the homo warning and run screaming) so thanks to those who may have read or may be reading still. _

* * *

"They think they're very clever." Marcus mused aloud as he gazed upon the surveillance screen before him. Kraven stood reclusively against the wall, watching from his post and trying to sort out all of these recent happenings in his head. The hunt was on for the hybrid and his treacherous lover, but they would be easily found, Kraven was certain. How far could they have gone in such a relatively short time? Not sure he was allowed a response, however, he said nothing.

Part of Kraven was reasoned and mechanical at the moment. He understood his situation so long as it was broken down into simple terms. He wanted to live, and so he would obey Marcus's whim unless it became safely beneficial to do otherwise. But it was not in Kraven's nature to accept things so absolutely, especially things that were not catered to his personal aspirations of being the one in control. Therefore the other part of him was mortified at this turn of events. What was it, exactly, that Marcus was keeping him for? What would be the next labor he was forced into? Or was Marcus simply planning on offering him up on a platter to Selene and Michael as a distraction? The anticipation threatened to drive him mad. He snapped out of his thoughts as Marcus spoke.

"I find Selene's betrayal rather comical in some respects." Marcus said, though his tone didn't suggest any humor. "Don't you, Kraven? After all of your pitiful pining over her, she runs off with that abominable beast. Just how does that make you feel, I wonder?"

Kraven showcased the barest tips of his fangs in defiance. He didn't enjoy being mocked with his own memories, nor did he particularly enjoy the reminder of Selene. His plans with her were so often thwarted by her ridiculous stubbornness. He had always known that should he be able to attract her as a mate, it would cement his place in the coven as someone respectable, in both the eyes of his people and, more importantly, in the eyes of Viktor. He knew how close Viktor had been to her. Instead, she had made him look like a fool. "…If she wants that disgusting animal then the fault is with her, not with me." He defended minimally.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps you are just so contemptible a creature yourself that fucking a dog is a step up above you." Marcus suggested casually over a shoulder.

Kraven remained silent once more in the case that Marcus was purposefully baiting a fight, thereby finding an excuse to kill him. He watched as the elder vampire prowled about the computer desk and made certain not to be a disturbance. When at last Marcus was finished, he spared a distasteful glance towards him. Kraven was caught wondering once again if this would be his last moment alive.

"She's fled into the woods." He informed.

Kraven blinked in confusion. "What do you want with _her_?"

This earned him a deadly look from Marcus. "If you insist on reminding me so incessantly that you're a fool, I won't be so inclined to keep you as company."

Kraven dropped the subject immediately, approaching Marcus with a cautious air as he sensed they were about to be on the move. He wasn't prepared when a hand suddenly snatched him by the front of his collar and pulled him in, but he instantly surrendered the use of his limbs, head turned and arms slack at his sides.

"I abhor you, Kraven." Marcus said, his thick voice drenched in an eerie calm. "It sickens me to think you ever held any position of power. You're a wretched little minion, even in terms of Viktor's foolish ideals when it came to authority, and believe you me, he was raving mad. But you wanted to live, because nobility and courage are such alien things to you, and you shall do so under _my_ terms. _With_-_out_-_question_."

Kraven could only nod accordingly, whether or not he had the intention of maintaining this arrangement. Without another word, Marcus dropped him and vanished into the darkness out the door. Kraven, for the second time, convinced himself to follow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Unabashed Sinner**

_Author's Note: Reviewers! Hi guys! Thanks for reading. Sorry it took so damn long to update, but I've literally had zero time to use the computer. Mais voyons, C'est chapter trois, mon amis. Bon nuit!_

* * *

He wasn't entirely sure where it was they were heading, but he didn't dare ask. It could not be said of Kraven that he was ignorant, only impulsive at times. He had ample ability to restrict these impulses when given negative results for acting upon them, and he didn't want another strike to the face just now. Instead, he kept his eyes on the road and his mouth shut, even as he felt Marcus's vicious stare boring into him from the passenger's seat. 

He didn't remember ever having to drive so fast, and it was setting his nerves on a razor's edge. Each time he dipped below sixty miles an hour he would receive a flippant threat or an intolerant mutter from his companion, forcing him to keep a reckless pace. The roads may have been deserted in the current hour and locale, but that came as only a small relief considering the way they wound, curved, and lay surrounded by thick rows of trees. He himself hadn't done a great deal of driving. Being on Viktor's list of VIPs did have its occasional advantages, one of them being that such tedious tasks were often taken care of by those of lesser status. Because of this, Kraven was only just beginning to learn that chauffeuring was not his forte.

"A left here." Marcus said, his voice so immaculately cool that it could have been a mere request between friends as far as any outside party could tell. No sooner had Kraven followed that order than he felt an arm thud painfully across his chest, forcing him back into his seat as his foot instinctively slammed onto the brake. The car screeched and nearly spun to a halt at the right-hand side of the road with a jarring lurch and settle.

Kraven choked on a ragged breath as he tried to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him and noted with confused frustration that the arm still lay upon him. He slowly drew his eyes up, finding Marcus alert and staring ahead. His figure was completely still and his expression sharply focused, clearly sensing something that Kraven was either not attuned enough or hadn't been paying close enough attention to pick up on himself.

"That's far enough." Marcus spoke, and pulled his arm back. Kraven remained stiff and pressed against the seat with a wide-eyed stare towards his senior. He could already feel a bruise simultaneously forming and receding against his assaulted front, his fingers finding the handle of the door in preparation for an almost hoped-for order to get out. But the order never came. Once Marcus had removed his arm he was already getting out of the car and tossing the door shut carelessly behind him, leaving Kraven to stare blankly at his situation. After a brief hesitation, he quickly slid out as well and wandered to the front to observe his lord's curious actions for himself. Marcus had already shifted back into his truer form before he made it there, and this caused Kraven to stop instantly. Marcus stood with a glower where he looked out over the road as though staring down some imaginary enemy. Kraven saw nothing, and couldn't help but notice that they were rather in the middle of nowhere at the moment. Marcus obviously intended to reach their destination on foot from here.

"Stay here." Marcus said before continuing on away from the car.

Kraven couldn't shake his befuddled gape as Marcus parted from him. Stay here. It was a simple but indefinite order. How far was Marcus intending to trek, and for how long? But he knew that he was not allowed to ask. He could only watch as Marcus unfurled his wings and took to the air in a motion that was almost too quick to be caught by the eye. Kraven was left standing in the middle of the road, alone.

* * *

Kraven didn't have any measure of the time that passed as he stood waiting by the side of the road, but it couldn't have been as long as it felt since Marcus left him. With every passing minute his thoughts found a new way to kindle the embers of his apprehension, tearing his mind into two equally reasonable points advocating both his fleeing of the situation and his following of Marcus's orders. 

There was no telling as to what Marcus's plans were. Did he simply decide that Kraven would be loyal enough to stand unsupervised in wait for a master he was less than happy to oblige? He couldn't stay here much longer. The sun would rise shortly—the sky had already been christened a light shade of opaque blue, a color that terrified him after having spent so many years hiding from it. Marcus obviously didn't trust him, and yet he had left the keys to the car behind. Perhaps he put enough faith in the dire implications of his command that he didn't consider Kraven's leaving to be a possibility. If that was the case, he was most likely right. Kraven was sufficiently threatened by the Marcus's abilities to fear that if he ran, he would be found again, and be offered no such mercy as he had been shown before.

On the other end of the spectrum, there was no certainty that Marcus would return at all. What if he didn't have time to come back and gather his servant? After all, Kraven harbored no delusions of being high on Marcus's priority list. Maybe he had just wanted to see if he could convince his follower to stand out in the sun. Or maybe, though Kraven found it to be the least likely scenario, Selene and company had actually gotten the better of him. In a twisted sense, he wished for that almost as much as he wished against it. But Marcus was an obscenely powerful vampire, Selene a mere fledgling in comparison.

She couldn't possibly hope to defeat him.

Kraven studied the sky with a cold sensation of uneasiness in his stomach, waiting for the first signs of the sun's deadly rays to prevail over the treetops. He also kept an eye out for signs of Marcus, though he couldn't see much of either from his position; standing stiffly wedged between the car and the forested side of the road where the light would be hardest pressed to shine. In the ebbing away of darkness and the sinking in of a paler hue, his skin was already beginning to ache and his eyes watering in irritation. He edged closer to the wooded shelter. It would be dark there for another while longer, but not by much. The sun was going to rise, and if Marcus didn't return soon, Kraven would be caught in an agonizing death. He was just about to move forward to try and catch a better view of the road and sky in the understandable impatience that he would see his master coming when, as if breaking apart, the sky spat out a handful of thin amber rays from a tree-blocked horizon. Kraven's chest expanded in a silent gasp as he shrank back against the shadows. It couldn't be daybreak already. Not yet. He huddled into the dark and began furiously gnawing a thumbnail. After a tense moment he was able to spare one last desperate glance towards the road, and, to his contemporaneous relief and dread, he saw Marcus in the distance this time.

Only Marcus didn't have the rolling gait of a victor. His body was partially maimed, an offset wing trailing bloodily behind him in an unconcealed physical explanation of why he hadn't returned by means of flight. The fluorescent glare of his wild, baleful eyes was visible even at the current distance anger permeating the aura surrounding him. As he came closer, Kraven was sure to display himself visibly while at the same time heeding the laws of his breed and remaining in the dark as best he could. Immediately he beset Marcus with his most adamant sense of urgency. "My Lord—" he began in a plea. He was instantly cut off as he was gripped by the shoulder and hassled effortlessly back into the shadows by a pair of long-decayed hands. He couldn't stop a yell of shocked objection when fangs suddenly pierced his neck as his blood was sapped from him for the second time in a scalding spurt. When he was dropped at last, Kraven backed away with a cowering hiss, covering his neck under a hand and blinking repeatedly at Marcus's now healing body. Kraven's teeth chattered, trying to cover the rage and poignant revulsion he felt for being _fed_ upon as if he were some form of livestock.

But Marcus was in no mood to bother with Kraven's feelings. As palpable as his fury had been mere seconds ago, however, there was no trace of it now, as if it too could be cured by blood. "I've got distance to cover, so stop your gawking and come along." He ordered smoothly before wiping his lips and turning.

It took a few moments for this development to process in Kraven's mind, his feet planted into the momentary safe-haven of shadow within the hellish inferno surrounding him and his hand frozen at his bleeding neck.

With the barest hint of exasperation, Marcus reached out and hooked Kraven's wrist, making a swift jerk to forcefully summon him. "Let's _move _then." He repeated with much more of an underlying warning.

Kraven shook his head in disbelief and automatically tried to tear himself back, eyes wide and shoulders hunched slightly in the unconscious preparation to refuse movement. His gaze flickered briefly to the sun-bathed road and back to Marcus. "My—my Lord, I _can't_." he spouted incredulously. Did Marcus truly intend for him to travel in daylight? It was madness, surely he must know.

Marcus stared blankly, his firm grip unrelenting. "You'll do nothing to belie your namesake, will you?"

Kraven continued to balk. "I'll die!" he pulled again frantically at his restrained arm.

Marcus's eyes gave a sick glimmer of intrigue. "Consider your plight, Kraven. You can either choose certain death, or probable death. Either I kill you now, or you can take your chances with the sun."

"No! Please!" Kraven gasped.

Marcus switched his grip to the back of Kraven's collar and thrust him out ahead. Kraven screamed in agony as thin glances of sunlight grazed his skin, arms flying up over his head in terror with an utterly futile attempt to try and defend himself. Slight cloud cover and a yet-to-be fully breached sun were the only things saving him from instant incineration, but he had never felt such incredible pain. The flesh on his hands and other areas that were exposed while being jostled seared and curled like dry wood, taking only a few brief moments to bleed before blackening over. His anguished cries soon turned into wails, his breaths choked, his pace more stumbling, none of which Marcus acknowledged as he kept a languid hold on his shirt.

Kraven had no sense of direction, only catching sight of his surroundings through accidental glimpses as Marcus shoved him through the wooded area. Not that he took much note of it, as much pain as he was in. Hot flashes of it blinded him, lances of fire raking over his body mercilessly as he tripped and staggered. His mind went blank. His throat was wet and expelling high-pitched sounds of panicked suffering. He was being burnt alive, held out in the sunlight with no sanctuary, no solace. Vulnerable and weak like he had been accused of being so many times.

Marcus expressed no sense of haste as he pushed Kraven along into the deeper woods, at last coming to his destination. Perhaps there was some clue in this safe house as to where Selene and Michael had headed towards next. This was where the initial signal led him, after all. Marcus looked around as he entered and carelessly tossed Kraven to the floor of the darkened laboratory to explore for himself.

Kraven hit the floor with a splatter of melted skin and blood, steam rising from his more severe burns and body racked with shakes. His screaming had died into whimpers and sharp heaves of breath, unable to move and numbed by the horrendous state of his now disfigured form. He felt a fading thrum within his consciousness…but closing his eyes would be accepting death, and so he would not. It was only after some time that he realized the sun was no longer upon him. His gaze slowly traveled to the quivering hand he held pressed into the cool metal floor, one that had caught him if only slightly as he fell. He drew it up and felt the urge to spring back as he observed strands of liquid-like flesh sticking to the floor in a trail behind it. It didn't make sense to him when he saw his arms a crimson red before him, and he wondered arbitrarily how they had become so covered in blood—before gathering in disgusted alarm that the skin was completely gone from them and bone could be seen through eaten chunks of exposed muscle. Repulsed by the sight of his own gore, he choked up a syrupy mouthful of vomit over his shoulder.

With footsteps sounding, he noticed Marcus returning to his side, and he desperately tried to shy away from an expected blow. But one was not forthcoming. Shivering pitifully, he raised his head to look up while still spitting gruesome fluids off his tongue. Marcus's eyes shone nothing but cold observation where he looked down at his underling.

Barely able to move, Kraven merely went into another fit of trembles, a glare in his eyes. Instinct welled up a growl in his throat, but cowardice swallowed it back down twice as eagerly. He ended up only letting out another feeble, ragged breath and hiding his head back down against the floor, face mostly covered over by the disheveled hair sticking to his burns. However, this was punctuated by another shrill yelp as he felt hands on him, hard against injured skin. He struggled in confusion and newly ripened pain while Marcus hoisted him up and slammed him back down onto a frigid lab bench, scattering various tools to the floor and knocking over a tableside tray in the process. His pain reached a new crescendo, throwing him violently out of focus. Kraven could hear fabric shifting, but he didn't realize the insinuation until he registered that it was his own clothes being pulled at—or pulled off, rather. For a moment, he was deadly silent. Then he erupted, trying to push Marcus back and twist himself free. A flippant crack to the jaw put a stop to that.

"Stop." Marcus ordered calmly.

Stunned by the strike, Kraven lay motionless.

Marcus gazed down upon him for a moment as he readjusted a few more garments, never breaking in his task. His breath was low and dangerous, contemptible in the current situation. "Just keep telling yourself, Kraven…" he began slowly, a sardonic drawl to his tone. Kraven twitched, petrified as to the consequences of either staying still or struggling back. Marcus couldn't really be doing this. He couldn't intend to take him—not _now_ at the very least, not when he was in this condition. "…at least it isn't death."

Outside, the day had fully broken, bleak and hollow over the expanse of a deserted mountain region. The deadly sun stayed and the clouds cleared up in submission. A chilled wind swirled in whispering gusts and the morning went on in relative silence, only occasionally broken by the distant echo of Kraven's tormented howls.


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I will more often, scout's honor. Thanks for the reviews! Purely contemplative chapter, sorry, no real action adventure._

* * *

Kraven awoke with no clue as to the time.

The pain had never left him. Not even unconsciousness granted him reprieve. But at least by now he had gotten used to its presence. His eyes barely opened to reveal the darkness of his surroundings, but even that was some effort. He knew that his face was scarred terribly. His hands, though aching violently as he tried to move them, seemed to be beginning to heal a little in the comforting blackness, but it was still only a little. Strands of dried bloody tissue still hung from them and the patches where skin had managed to somehow remain were white and dead. Without blood to aid his healing, it was going to be an extremely slow and agonizing process for his wounds to disappear.

His legs were sore where they lay strewn in an awkward position from when he had fallen back to the floor. His back throbbed as well and he could feel the blood congealing between his legs, making him grimace in hatred and attempt in vain to reposition himself. He soon gave up and lay still so as not to agitate his injuries further. Where Marcus had gone to was a mystery to him, but so long as he was not nearby Kraven would grasp at that momentary safety. Even so, he felt strangely off. He was alone. He was almost never alone, and now with the unexplained absence of his superior along with the remembered deaths of everyone else, his mind began to filter through the possible meanings of this new solitude.

Kraven had always been surrounded by his kind. He had governed over the coven in Viktor's slumber, after all. Even if not all of them had taken his command seriously, they had nonetheless obeyed him and remained at his side. He slept within the confines of a home filled with his fellowmen and never gave it a second thought—there were so many of them, how could they all have perished? His followers, his soldiers, Soren, Kahn, Erika—

Erika. He paused in his thoughts as they crossed over her. She had always been his most loyal of subjects, as tiresome as she could be at times with her clear infatuation. He couldn't fault her for this, however. She had gone after him for the same reason he had gone after Selene; the quest to be closest to the highest source of power. It was a respectable trait, even if he had no interest in taking her as his own. …Not that he hadn't occasionally indulged in slipping into her bed some days when the night had been taxing. He was hardly the sort of man to deny an offering merely because of its intentions. But she was dead, and because of this, she wasn't worth the thought. They were all dead.

They were soldiers, of course. It could be expected of them to die. But Kraven hadn't imagined such a vast extermination, and by their former lord no less. In one fell swoop, Marcus had destroyed all who Kraven may have ruled over had he obtained the power he so sought. This was a suddenly startling revelation… Once Marcus killed Selene, he and Kraven would be the only remaining members of their coven. They would be the only vampires left, as far as Kraven's social circle could reach. Only he and Marcus, possibly forever considering the strengths of his elder. He suddenly felt bitterly ill, bereft of his power and all of the things he had worked so hard for. The blood of the coven was on his hands, and it had caused everything he had hoped for to slip through his fingers.

A flash of movement caught his eye, and he slowly drew up his eyes to search the area across from him for it. Before he had time to register much else, it had come into his view. A white cat had appeared in front of him, and, unable to lift his head, he stared blankly at its feet as it wandered into his line of sight. Its back arched and its tail rose up as it crossed him, stopping briefly to look around itself in expectation. It vocalized once before lowering its head to sniff the vampire out and then set to eating a piece of his stripped away flesh. Kraven weakly clucked his tongue and moved his fingers slightly, at which the cat leaned its head towards them. He scratched it below the ear before reaching around and pulling it closer by the scruff and pinning it to the ground. It opened its mouth in a verbal protest, unable to use its legs from being forcefully squatted as Kraven sank his teeth into its neck. He drank what it had and discarded the corpse, panting for a moment as it coursed through his veins. His wounds began mending more rapidly. When at last he looked down at his hands, the skin was intact, though thin and sorely red as it was. It would heal well enough now. He touched his face cautiously with two fingers and found similar results: receding scars and diminishing burns.

A few minutes later, he found the strength to move, pushing himself gingerly off the ground and bringing himself to his knees. His muscles stiffened in rebellion, but with enough care to his movements, the worst of it subsided. He wobbly dragged himself up to his feet and smoothed his hair back a bit from his face.

A strident clack of a boot on metal made him leer suspiciously towards the entrance and, to his chagrin, Marcus emerged from the shadows in his human visage. He observed Kraven for only a moment before giving his order. "We're leaving now."

Kraven swallowed thickly, fervently hoping that the sun had gone down.


	5. Chapter 5

_I realize that I no longer seem to update regularly. My stuff seems so scattered lately! Lately, hell, ALWAYS, I know. Thank you very much to those of you who are reading, I realy do appreciate it. Hopefully this is the chapter where things will take a turn for the interesting._

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Kraven wondered if perhaps he may be able to recognize their surroundings if he thought hard enough about it, having lived here for so long. Something about the area struck him as vaguely familiar. He obviously couldn't ask Marcus about it. Shaking out of his thoughts, he pulled the car over upon Marcus's order and stared ahead, waiting for his next demand.

Marcus looked over at him with a stoic countenance as he opened the door. "I'm paying a visit to an old friend of ours." He offered cryptically.

Kraven pulled himself out of the car with an embarrassing limp, skin still stinging and certain parts of his anatomy almost intolerably sore. He immediately began following Marcus's gathered pace, his own shoulders hunched down like a beaten slave shambling after its master. It was as he felt, at least. There was no telling as to the task he was facing next, and he couldn't figure for the life of him through his muddled head what 'old friend' Marcus had in mind. But he was so grateful Marcus had allowed them to travel at nightfall that his normally curious tendencies took an obliged backseat. There would be no point in endangering his life yet again over something as comparatively superfluous.

As they approached their objective, Kraven knew for certain that he recognized this edifice. He gaped up at the structure with wonder and stopped short as Marcus's hand pushed him back. "Stay out here." He commanded gravely. Kraven was in no position to argue. He slunk back beside the wall of the front entrance and crossed his arms stiffly over his chest, not looking at Marcus, who made his way inside. Quiet settled over and Kraven had to consciously keep himself from pacing. How long was this going to take? Shouldn't they be searching for Selene and Michael?

Of course, he wasn't pressing on that matter. He was no more anxious to see Selene again than he was Marcus. They both had equal motivation to exact some sort of vengeance on him. Even so, his sneer favored the idea of her. Each time he thought of her leaning over that pathetic Lycan child, readying herself to transfer unto him the power of both breeds, he felt an uninhibited pulse of rage. She had denied the offer of a well-respected vampire dignitary in favor of some run-of-the-mill, human-brained cur. But at that point it hadn't mattered anyway. Selene had already been willing to go against Viktor's wishes—and all for that ridiculous Michael. However, his begrudging of them was the last of his worries. He was far more concerned about their begrudging of him. He felt it safe to assume that Marcus wouldn't be giving him any sort of protection. Perhaps there was a way to convince the two of them that he could aid them. Tell them things that only someone at Marcus's hand could know…But knowing Selene's shoot-on-sight attitude, it was probably safer to take his chances with Marcus.

Minutes passed, and he was beginning to grow restless. Half of him wanted to know what was taking so long, while the other half wanted no part in it. As though in answer to his thoughts, he could suddenly hear Marcus coming back from the passageway. Kraven studied him carefully as he stepped back out into the moonlight, fresh blood drizzling carelessly from his lips and a satisfied, strangely fanatical gleam in his eyes. He came closer and Kraven instantly pulled back. "…What happened?" Kraven asked before he could stop himself. He quickly shut his mouth and froze, trying to think of a way to remedy his mistake.

Marcus didn't lash out, however. "Nothing that concerns you." And with that, he continued walking.

Kraven stared in confusion, making a move to follow before Marcus spoke once more, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

"Stay behind, Kraven. You've thus far only proved to be in my way, and my next endeavor requires a precision I wouldn't trust your incompetent whining to ease…In any case, I need you here in the case that Selene or the hybrid should return. If you see either one of them, shoot them."

Kraven hesitated, unable to find words to properly inquire as to what he was supposed to do, as he didn't currently have a gun in his possession, but he was not permitted the chance.

"I won't be gone long." Marcus said. "You won't be going anywhere. Remember, Kraven. You'll be _very_ easy to find." Without another word of explanation, Marcus spread his wings and alighted to the sky. Kraven watched, mouth partially open as the steady beating of wings faded out into the dark and he was left standing in the aftermath of some indistinct disaster that Marcus had created. After a moment, he shuffled back to the wall of the fortress and stood in resentful wait. He didn't appreciate being dragged along like this, even if part of him was relieved to think he may not have to meet up with Selene and, more importantly now, Michael again. But he wouldn't dare to defy it, so at the behest of his lord, he remained silently fuming in the precise spot he was told.

The image of Marcus's bloody mouth wouldn't leave his mind. What had Marcus come here for, and what had he to show for it? Had this just been a place to get a meal? That wasn't likely. As much as it disgusted him, if Marcus were looking for a quick feed, he would have simply turned on Kraven again. No, it had to have been something else. And Kraven had a vague grasp at best on what. One of his feet shifted a little as if contemplating taking him inside, but he refused to give in to the urge. Marcus had told him to stay here, and he had been rather unspecific about which here he meant. Kraven was afraid enough not to move an inch from his current location, let alone go gallivanting off. He tried not to allow his eyes to wander down the dark corridor. Instead, he looked down at his hands, which were healing by this point.

All in all, his burns were almost gone. They would have been completely gone had he been able to feed properly, but he knew that was out of the question. There was no Ziodex distributor in these parts, and aside from domestic animals he could hardly find a suitable living source. He wasn't like Marcus in that he was powerful enough to find food anywhere. Even here. What had he bitten? Kraven was suddenly edging over to the door before he really knew it. He briefly searched the sky before making a decision. Marcus said he wouldn't be gone long, but surely it had to be longer than the mere handful of minutes he had already been away. And anyway, it wouldn't take that long just to have a look inside. Kraven carefully slipped into the passageway and crept down along a darkened wall, following the morbid scent of excessive amounts of blood leading towards the inner chamber. He stopped a bit nervously as he came to the end of the entrance that opened into a hallway, straightening his back in a grasp at confidence before continuing on.

It was drab and mostly silent as he trekked softly down the stone walk with the infrequent drip of water echoing faintly from somewhere beyond the walls. He glanced momentarily at the lining décor and slowed as he caught the rich glow of candlelight coming from an open doorway. So there was someone here. Or at least there had been, before Marcus arrived. Kraven wasn't certain he wanted to see what lay in that room, but he was compelled to move forward. The smell of blood was growing stronger and it both hungered and nauseated him all at once. He came to the doorway of what appeared to be a study and his breath stilled, brow furrowing as he observed the body lying out on the table before him. He remembered clearly now. This was the lair of Tanis, the coven's former historian and record keeper, exiled for treason a great many years ago.

Tanis. Kraven hadn't thought of him in almost three centuries, only recently having remembered that he still lived in brief encounters between himself and Lucian. Yes, Lucian had been in leagues with him to obtain some obscure weaponry, that much he could recall. But what had Marcus wanted with him? Kraven folded his arms tightly in discomfort and stared on at the scene, eyes fixated on the long ropes of blood still streaming to the floor from Tanis's bitten neck. It was with the most astounded horror that he realized Tanis was still breathing. Marcus hadn't even bothered to finish the job, leaving him barely alive and edging towards death at a snail's pace. Kraven's initial reaction was to flee. He hadn't wanted any part of this and he wished he would have followed that line of thinking to begin with. Nevertheless, he cautiously approached, wandering over to Tanis's right side and staring down at him in frazzled contemplation. Tanis was dazed. If he noticed Kraven, he didn't make much effort of showing it.

Kraven pursed his lips and growled, looking around as if he were being watched. He felt drawn here, like he couldn't pull away. Tanis may as well have been the last of his kind, because aside from him, there was only Marcus and Selene—Kraven didn't know of any others, and covens were never very accepting when it came to outsiders, so he presumed that he never would. Even if other vampires were somehow in the picture, Marcus's outrageous killing spree could only extend to them as well. With a distressed murmur, he began chewing his thumbnail again, stiffening as Tanis let out a muffled, gritty choke. He was dying. Kraven stared on.

Why should it matter that Tanis was dying? Who was he in the grand scheme of things? He hadn't been important when he _was_ a part of the coven, so only less could be said for him now. But then again…there was no coven. Not anymore.

In a split-second decision, Kraven brought his wrist to his mouth and tore it open with a grunt of complaint, holding it down to Tanis's lips and looking around frantically in the expectation for Marcus to materialize at any given moment. He thrust his wounded wrist hard towards the dying vampire and growled again in feral impatience. "_Drink_, Tanis!" he hissed in a whisper. Tanis began moving in confusion, turning his head as best he could, which was only far enough to have Kraven's hip come into his vision. He didn't seem to understand at first, but as Kraven's blood dripped against his lip, he made sense enough to obey the command. Kraven clenched his teeth and watched in absorption as the blood drained away from him. He had never bled for anyone before, not willingly at least. It was not his place to save lives after all. But Kraven couldn't remain alone. He couldn't be a useless pawn for the rest of eternity. He couldn't bring himself to spread his legs for Marcus again.

With a pronounced cough, Tanis pulled back, feeling a hand clumsily at his wound to find it healing away. He blinked up at Kraven with an utterly befuddled look, hair tousled, face smeared in gore, blood staining his fangs. "Kraven…?" he recognized with hushed awe, an incredulous question in his tone.

Kraven was frantic by this point. "He'll be coming back, we have to get out of here. _Now_." he blurted.

Tanis stared up at him with an utterly shocked look in his eyes, which both confused and made Kraven anxious. He eventually shook it off in order to process what Kraven had said. "Leave? But—" he attempted, flustered as he tried to prop himself up. But Kraven was not about to tolerate protest.

"I said get up!" he snapped.

Tanis looked up again, and for a moment, they regarded one another in silence. But then he suddenly seemed to understand and he hurried up, stumbling after Kraven down the corridor.


	6. Chapter 6

_Thank you all for your reviews but most of all your patience, begrudging or no. Let's try and get this grotesque little number back on track, shall we?_

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Tanis was clearly having a hard time keeping pace behind him, but Kraven had nothing else in mind other than leaving the area as fast as he could. The two of them traveled in a strange silence. There was nothing between them that needed to be explained, considering that Tanis now held joint custody of all his memories no matter how scattered. Any idiot could piece some of the puzzle together. But Kraven certainly hadn't revived Tanis for conversational purposes, and the latter must have known it.

His nerves were beginning to get the better of him. He had just defied Marcus, the most powerful vampire on the face of the planet. If and when he should return to find Kraven gone, there would be hell to pay, and he was narrowly focused on finding a place to hide. His mind scrambled to try and formulate some sort of plan as to where he could go or what he hoped to accomplish. He didn't know this area. There was too much open space, no cover—not the city that he was used to by now. Not that it mattered. If Marcus was truly intent on finding him, nowhere would be safe.

_"Remember, Kraven,"_ He tried without success to push the words from his head. _"You'll be_ very _easy to find."_

He stopped suddenly as he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back a tad gruffly, and he turned his head to the source with a look that demanded explanation. Tanis raised an eyebrow at him and gestured a head toss to their fore, towards the road that Kraven had distractedly walked right into. He stepped back as a car passed. "There's a road there." Tanis offered with a mild sarcasm.

Kraven blew him off with a snort and pushed his hand away, turning to try and find another direction.

Tanis looked around and drew in a breath. "He's gone to find Selene and the hybrid."

Kraven turned back and blinked, eyes piercing.

Tanis sighed sharply and went on. "Well now, all things considered I'm surprised he didn't take you with him. But whatever the case, they're a ways off, so that buys us some time. We don't have to be running around like madmen, at least not yet."

"I'm not willing to risk sitting out in the open. We're moving." He informed, turning back around and ambling up the slight slope that flanked the road.

Tanis paused before following. "Alright, but shouldn't we at least have a—a destination in mind?" he stuttered as stumbled.

"Just keep up." He ordered. His head was aching, and he began rubbing his temples as he marched swiftly along into the woods. He didn't need to be asked the same questions he was currently asking himself.

"Well," Tanis half grumbled, catching up. "Is that saying you don't even know where we're going?"

"Does it matter?" Kraven turned on him this time with fangs bared.

Tanis backed off a little, brow creased. "Yes, I should think so. I don't know what in the hell you're playing at, but—"

"I'm leading you away from danger, so shut up and be thankful instead of badgering me!" They glared at one another. Vampires were spontaneously aggressive creatures by nature, but Kraven quickly reminded himself that there wasn't time for this. Circling each other wouldn't forge a plan any quicker, and all the while the sun was rising. "You're the one who's been living here. Where is the closest stronghold?" he asked with a conscious effort not to speak too roughly.

"Well I rarely leave my manor. Or left, rather…" Tanis licked a lower lip as he studied the ground in concentration. "There's a…tavern close by, that won't do any good. I'm fairly sure we'll be found out. Other than that it's just a few solitary farmers. But if we're going that way it won't be a short journey on foot."

"If we can't make it there by sunrise, don't bother bringing it up."

"I'm not saying we can't, I was just—" Tanis huffed, setting his hands on his hips and lowering his shoulders as he looked off into their intended direction. "Let's just get on with it."

Kraven continued on his way without another glance back. The path was illuminated fairly well, not that they needed it to be for vampire eyes. It only made Kraven even more paranoid, thinking that surely anyone could see them. The moon lit from odd angles above, reflected over a thin layer of clouds gleaming like planes of ethereal ice under the safety of a sunless sky. Owls loomed overhead like night vultures. The occasional bat flittered by in an attempt to go unnoticed. They traveled for hours in silence, no questions and no conversations.

The area was dry. Twigs and leaves cracked so loudly and with such ease under their feet as they tread that Kraven half suspected his heel to strike a flame each time it touched down. Slopes and rocks served to hinder his path at every turn, and as he began struggling up one of the larger inclines, he was forced to nearly climb rather than walk. He tucked his hands under his arms tightly as he went. This was lunacy. Where had he gone wrong, how had it come to this? Power had been a simple red fruit dangling in their garden, ripe with blood and ready to snap from its twigs into his opened hand. But upon reaching for it, he had been caught by his lord and barred from that garden, sent to walk the tribulations of a cold and unpitying world for the remainder of eternity. Now he was here. Eden was gone. All that remained was he—Eve, who had tasted the fruit—and Adam—an ignorant Tanis shambling along after. They were both forsaken. Kraven mentally coiled away from the pain of defeat and the bitter tang of failure spurred by his own analogy.

Well into their journey, Kraven was beginning to doubt that Tanis knew where they were going at all. It was all woods to him, and he wouldn't have been surprised at any moment to come across his own tracks. These thoughts dissipated as they came up on the last rise, and were left staring out at a shabby old farmhouse resting off in the distance on the grounds before them. They both exchanged glances and Tanis offered a brief smirk, as if he had somehow known his companion's doubts.

It was utterly silent as they made their way slowly across the property, around a flock of freely grazing but haggardly sheep littered nearby. "I know this place." Tanis said with mild surprise.

Kraven looked to him curiously, his voice sounding strange after their stretch of soundlessness. His head was fuzzy with exhaustion, so he didn't reply.

"Nevermind how…" he glanced at the sheep with a strange grimace of loathing before getting back to the point. "Some elderly crow lives here, deaf as a stone. We shouldn't be noticed if we're careful about it." Tanis continued on, Kraven forcing himself in tow. Tanis momentarily inspected the windows with a cautious gaze before moving to the side of the house and towards the cellar. The shelter was old and cracked, and ambiguous as to how much light it would allow from looking at the entrance, but it was really their only option. An indignant Kraven scowled at the idea of such shoddy accommodations and watched with contempt as Tanis wrenched the door opened and motioned down the stairs. "There we are. It's the best we're going to do at this hour."

Kraven opened his mouth to argue, but then shut it, glaring back at Tanis in the silent demand for him to go first. Tanis shrugged tiredly and ambled down. Taking one last long look around the area—dry grass, looming woodlands, muddy sheep and a gray sky, none of which proposed any danger but none of which seemed void of the potential—Kraven slipped quietly down after him.


End file.
